In the first major Artemis update provided under the Biden-Harris Administration, NASA leadership discussed Tuesday the challenges and progress of Americas lunar exploration plans and reiterated a long-term commitment to exploring the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars.
The update followsa judgesrecentdecision to uphold NASAs selection of SpaceX to developand demonstratea modern human lunar landerfor returning astronauts to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson spearheaded the conversation, laying out the path forward forearly Artemis missions thatwill pave the way for lunar surface missions.
Were pleased with the U.S. Court of Federal Claimsthorough evaluation of NASAs source selectionprocessfor the human landing system (HLS),andwehave already resumed conversations withSpaceX. Its clear were botheager to get back to work togetherand establish a new timeline for our initial lunar demonstration missions,Nelsonsaid. Returning to the Moon as quickly and safely as possible is an agency priority. However, with the recent lawsuit and other factors, the first human landing under Artemis is likely no earlier than 2025.
Prior to that surface mission, NASA is focused on the Artemis I uncrewed and Artemis II crewed flight tests around the Moon.Nelson announced the Orion spacecraftdevelopment costnowis$9.3 billionfrom fiscal year 2012 through the first crewed flight test no later than May 2024.The Artemis II mission includes sending astronauts aboard Orionfartherinto space than any humans have evertraveled before, roughly 40,000 miles past the Moon,before returning home.
Those missions, as well as a future uncrewed lander demonstration mission with SpaceX, will precede the Artemis III crewed lunar landing mission.NASA also plans to issue a formal solicitation next spring for recurring human landing systems services.
Among the challenges the agency and its partners have addressed in deep space exploration development, Nelson noted a delayed lunar landing is due, in part, to first-time development challenges, an almost seven-month delay due to the HLS lawsuit, Congress not appropriating sufficient funds for the HLS competition, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Trump Administrations landing goal of 2024 not being technically feasible.
Going forward, NASA is planning for at least 10 Moon landings in the future, and the agency needs significant increases in funding for future lander competition, starting with the 2023 budget, said Nelson.
